Date: Fri, 27 Feb 1998 08:27:13 +0000
From: Clare Howell
Subject: IYF
MEDIA ADVISORY -- FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Editor: Clare Howell (718) 638-7062
clareq@gpac.org
.TRANSGENDERED SEX WORKER MURDERED
.HOUSTON PROTECTS TRANSGENDER EMPLOYEES
.MADEMOISELLE EXAMINES INTERSEX CONTROVERSY
.DC DROPS 1ST AMENDMENT CLAIM IN WRONGFUL
DEATH SUIT
.PRE-OP TRANSEXUAL WINS NAME CHANGE
Contact: Tonye Barreto-Neto, TBHawk@aol.com
TRANSGENDERED SEX WORKER MURDERED
=================================
[Tampa, FL: 18 Feb 98] RONALD 'TASHA' DUNN,
a 42 year-old prostitute, was found
bludgeoned to death early Saturday morning
in a Tampa parking lot. Dunn was found wearing
pants, a jacket, and a bra.
Police have no leads in the case. As to
a motive, Tampa Homicide Detective Jerry Clark
stated, "I don't even want to speculate. The
truth is, we don't know. We are hoping someone
will come forward."
Transactivists expressed little confidence
that police will aggressively pursue the
killer(s). Said Tonye Barreto-Neto, of
Transgender Officers Protect and Serve (TOPS),
"Violence against the transgendered is horrific,
yet it continues to be ignored or underplayed
by the police, news reporting agencies, and
the public."
###
Contacts: Vanessa Foster, MoonFlowrr@aol.com
Phyllis Frye, PRFyre@aol.com
HOUSTON PROTECTS TRANSGENDER EMPLOYEES
======================================
[Houston, TX: 19 Feb 98] NEWLY ELECTED HOUSTON
Mayor Lee Brown today signed an Executive Order
to prohibit discrimination in the hiring of city
employees based on sexual orientation. The order
defines sexual orientation as "The actual or
perceived status of a person with respect to
his or her sexuality."
The wording of the order is based on a
similar statue in Minnesota. It is the result of
efforts by Houston's first openly-queer City
Council member, Annise Parker, and members of
Houston's transgender community.
Said Phyllis Frye, Executive Director of the
International Conference on Transgender Law and
Employment Policies (ICTLEP), "The term sexuality
can be defined in many ways, and the real or
perceived status of a person's sexuality
definitely covers the transgender experience."
###
Contact: Cheryl Chase, cchase@isna.org
MADEMOISELLE EXAMINES INTERSEX CONTROVERSY
==========================================
[Chicago, IL: 25 Feb 98] TITLED 'AM I A WOMAN
Or a Man?', an article in the March issue of
Mademoiselle magazine features intersex woman
Angela Moreno and highlights the trauma she
suffered at the hands of medical specialists
intent on making her 'normal'.
Born with a vagina, XY chromosomes, internal
testes, but without ovaries or a uterus, Ms.
Moreno was raised as a girl. In 1985, when she
was 12, her parents consulted doctors about her
enlarged clitoris. The doctors recommended surgery
to remove the testes and the 1 3/4" clitoris,
saying this was necessary for Angela's mental
health. Angela was told she had ovarian cancer
and the operation was a hysterectomy.
The years of sexual awakening after the
operation caused Ms. Moreno much trauma and
frustration as a result of her amputated
clitoris. Now, at age 25, she still has no
clitoral sensation. She discovered the true
nature of her operation in 1995 when she
demanded her medical records.
She now identifies as an intersex woman and
is an outspoken critic of medical intervention.
"I want to make sure that other intersex kids
don't suffer like I did," she said. "I don't
believe I was treated for a medical emergency;
what the doctors treated was their discomfort
with indeterminate gender. Cutting infants'
genitals to fit cultural norms isn't medicine--
it's mutilation."
There is a growing movement among health
care providers that reflects this view.
Clinical Psychologist Howard Devore, in a
sidebar to the article, maintained that surgery
should wait until the child is old enough to
decide whether to identify as a boy or girl.
He said, "Doctors need to respond to the
infants' needs, rather than the panicked
parents'."
###
D.C. DROPS FIRST AMENDMENT CLAIM IN TRANSEXUAL
WRONGFUL DEATH SUIT
==============================================
[Washington, D.C.: 13 Feb 98] WASHINGTON D.C.
Counsel John Ferren has withdrawn a statement
from a legal brief contending that an Emergency
Medical Technician (EMT) had a First Amendment
right to ridicule dying transexual woman Tyra
Hunter. The EMT ceased giving first aid to the
critically injured Hunter and began making
derogatory comments to her when he discovered
that she had a penis.
In the city's initial response to a wrongful
death suit brought against the city by Hunter's
mother, Counsel Ferren had contended that the
EMT had a right to shout derogatory comments
at Hunter because the comments, although
offensive and crudely stated, were protected
under the First Amendment because they did not
include false representations of Hunter.
The Washington Blade reports that Ferren
withdrew that contention from the city's legal
brief after a storm of complaints by Gay,
Lesbian, and Transgender activists.
###
PRE-OPERATIVE TRANSEXUAL WINS LEGAL NAME CHANGE
===============================================
[Pittsburgh, PA: 14 Feb 98] IN A PRECEDENT
setting case, transexual woman Lisa Harris has
won a court-ordered name change, from Brian to
Lisa, after living for 22 years as a woman. She
has undergone hormone therapy and had facial
surgery to feminize herself, but has not had
Sexual Reassignment Surgery (SRS).
Many jurisdictions throughout the country
have denied name changes for transgendered
people until presented with evidence that SRS
has been completed. Although no state law
prohibits transgendered people from changing
their names, many judges have cited attempted
fraud as the reason for denying transexuals'
name change petitions.
Reflecting this reasoning, dissenting
Judge Saylor wrote, "To judicially sanction
a pre-operative transsexual's adoption of an
obviously female name would grant recognition
to a physiological fiction."
However, concluding for the majority, Judge
Olszewski stated, "We believe that the better
reasoned approach is to require such a petitioner
to demonstrate that he or she is permanently
committed to living as a member of the opposite
sex."
###
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